You may need a new job. Pay attention to these 6 signals

There are only 2 situations in which we seriously evaluate to change our job:

• When some colleague leaves the Company.
• When we are contacted by some head hunter offering a position.

For the rest of the time, we keep going. We stay in our jobs by inertia, without analyzing whether that’s the best option.

The problem I see here is that we depend on external situations to reflect on our careers and lives. I don’t support constantly job-seeking and looking for the best conditions because they don’t exist. That would make us miserable.

But what if we regularly checked our situation to decide when it’s a good time to look for a new opportunity?

Some indicators can help us to recognize the need for change.

Hard Red Flags

When assessing the situation, there are some objective signs we can pay attention to:

The position you want doesn’t exist in the Company

After we gain some experience, we usually create a role for ourselves in our minds. The problem comes when that role doesn’t exist in our current Company. Then, we may find it somewhere else.

You don’t have a good time with your colleagues

We spend many hours a day at our jobs. We will rapidly lose engagement and interest in them if we don’t have a good social connection.

Your salary is too low

Companies are more likely to give higher salaries to new hires than to their employees. This doesn’t make sense, but it happens for different reasons. So, if you want a significant salary increase (say over 30%), you’d better try to get it in a new Company.

Soft Red Flags

Some subjective indicators are equally (or more) important. We can’t conclude that they are a consequence of our current jobs, but it’s worth keeping an eye on them.

It becomes difficult to get out of bed

This is directly related to motivation. Of course, there may be many reasons why you can’t get up. But if this frequently happens, mainly during the week, you may be fighting against going to work.

You easily lose your patience

Sometimes, you recognize that you are not the same. Some time ago, you were more willing to help others and give better solutions. But now, you get annoyed about your interactions (questions, answers, or requests you receive).

Lots of complaints

You find yourself complaining too often about your job. This could be about the Company policies, your boss’s decisions, or the projects you are involved in. In any case, changing your job will give you a new perspective and more energy.

How to Identify them?

It would be great if we could spot these situations as they happen, but we can’t rely on that. We often don’t see them right away.

That’s why we must frequently ask questions and reflect on how our job is going.

Check your self-esteem, mood, and motivation regularly. You will identify patterns that will help you better assess your situation.

Conclusion

We can’t wait for external events to realize it’s the moment to change our job.

There are many signals that we should listen to.

It’s hard to spot them as they happen. We need to check our situation proactively.

The next step is to identify what’s relevant and ask yourself regular questions to know how you are doing.

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful week.